


Words for Love

by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, adrienette - Freeform, group projects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 15:29:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap/pseuds/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap
Summary: Marinette and Adrien are partners for a school project, where they give a presentation about the different kinds of love.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 22
Kudos: 230





	Words for Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonlightShines (Thatkillervibe)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatkillervibe/gifts).



It hadn’t even been random luck. The students were allowed to choose their partners, and Adrien had turned to Marinette, and locked eyes with her, and said, “Hey, would you be okay with working with me?”

Marinette probably would have psyched herself out of it, except for the fact that she had been in shock, and instinctively said, “Yes! Of course, we can work together!” before her brain could process the situation.

So now they were sitting next to each other, in the same row, and Adrien was thanking her (as if she had done something huge for him and not the other way around). His smile was so pure and brilliantly bright, Marinette was half sure she was going to go blind.

At least the last thing she saw would be something beautiful.

“So… did you have any ideas?”

Marinette laughed nervously. “What were we- um- I mean, what was the assignment again?”

Adrien scooted his chair slightly closer, and his arm brushed against Marinette’s for a second. Marinette was pretty sure she felt literal sparks fly. She had to force herself to not look down and check whether she was on fire.

Stay focused, she told herself. Don’t think about the fact that Adrien’s sitting right next to you and looking at you, which means that if you turn around you’ll see his sparkly eyes up close, and-

She was pretty sure she was going to bomb this assignment. Oh well. She had a good enough grade in her literature class. She could afford to take one hit. The straight-A student in her would regret her carelessness later, but it was hard to care about anything else when Adrien was right there.

Marinette barely had any memory of the hour they spent putting their presentation together.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. She had only vague recollections of any of the research, writing, and drawing she had done. However, every single compliment Adrien had given her — “that drawing is amazing Marinette, I hope you still remember me when you’re famous” — every time they had made eye contact (eleven times), and every time their feet bumped into each other under the table (three times!!!) were permanently burned into Marinette’s memory.

When the hour ended, Marinette was torn between feeling disappointed and relieved. She was sad that her time as Adrien’s partner was coming to an end, but she was also pretty sure that she’d explode if her nerves had to take any more hits today. Now all she had to do was wait until they were called to give their short presentation in front of the class.

Marinette’s attention shifted from Adrien to the front of the classroom, where Mylene and Alix were presenting. It was easy to pay attention because they had choreographed an entire interpretive dance. Mylene did some ballet moves, as Alix read out loud from their report about ancient Greek entertainment. Marinette was pretty sure that ballet didn’t exist in the year 400 but it was still fun to watch. As she finally focused on something else, Marinette’s mental fog cleared enough for her to remember what had been going on in her literature class that morning.

They were about to start reading the Odyssey, which was written centuries ago in ancient Greece, so their teacher had asked them to split into partners and research something that was different in ancient Greece than in modern times, and then share it with the class. That way, they’d be able to understand the Odyssey better when they read it. So, Marinette had-

Oh no. Marinette and Adrien had done their report on-

She was going to die. This was how her life ended. There was no way on Earth she would survive the five-minute presentation. And now she remembered that the class was allowed to ask questions, which meant that she’d have to interact with other people, and-

oh God. Oh no. This was the end of her.

Marinette didn’t know how much time passed, but suddenly Adrien was saying, “Marinette and I can go next!” and she was nodding along, pretending that this was somehow okay.

She clipped the poster that she had drawn to the board with some magnets, stalling for time by hanging it as straight as possible. And then they were standing together in front of the classroom. Marinette faced her class, with nothing but a few notecards to protect her from the cold hard grip of the grim reaper who was surely about to come to take her soul because there was no way on Earth she’d survive this.

Marinette pried her eyes open and forced herself to start talking.

“We only have one word for love, but the ancient Greeks saw love as something so complex that it couldn’t be summarized in one word. In fact, they had seven different words that all meant different things, even though today we just describe them all with the vague umbrella term, ‘love.’” She was off to a good start until she said the word ‘umbrella,’ which made her think about the day that Adrien’s umbrella had collapsed on her and Adrien had giggled and…

Marinette tried to calm down and stop hyperventilating, but then Adrien was saying his first line, which reminded Marinette that he was right next to her, which also reminded her that she was completely screwed.

She forced herself to look at her classmates, and not at Adrien, as she explained philautia, or self-love.

This didn’t have to be weird if she didn’t make it weird.

There was nothing awkward about giving a speech on self-confidence. She tried not to look at Alya, who was clearly sneaking some pictures on her phone, and by the time she finished her first lines, she felt a tiny bit better. This was going way smoother than she had feared. It didn’t take a lot to be less terrible than her worst fears, but still.

Then, Adrien was reading again, describing agape, and Marinette relaxed some more. Agape wasn’t weird either, right? It was just caring about your fellow human beings. Again, there was nothing weird, or even anything personal about it. Sympathy and compassion didn’t inherently mean mushy romantic stuff.

“Agape is also the type of love teachers feel for their students when they dedicate their time to helping them,” Adrien said. “Like when Miss Bustier shows her love for the class by being patient and listening to what everyone has to say.” The class hummed in agreement.

When Marinette’s turn came back around, she was ready. She felt almost relaxed as she explained xenia, the kind of love that was linked with hospitality. She was sure that xenia wasn’t weird because she felt it all the time. She constantly wanted to pull her friends into her bakery and cover them in blankets and give them all the cookies they could eat. It was the warm snuggly feeling she felt towards Alya, and Tikki, and even Chat Noir.

By some miracle, the speech had stopped being humiliating and had just become fun.

She finished her section and moved aside so Adrien could say his next lines, wondering why she had been so afraid.

“Then, there’s eros,” Adrien said.

Oh. Crap. That was what she had been afraid of.

Adrien was blushing slightly, and he began to pace as he talked. He looked just a little too excited, and the energy he radiated made it difficult to look away, despite her instincts screaming at her to stop staring. “Eros is the type of love that most people think of when they imagine romantic love. It’s desire, and excitement, and intense feeling. It’s the most passionate form of love!” 

“Like Ladybug and Chat Noir?” Rose called out.

“No,” Marinette said, at the exact same time as Adrien said, “Yes!.”

Congratulations, Marinette thought, I’ve managed to make this ten times more awkward than it already was. 

Marinette was blushing so hard her face must have been bright purple, and she stammered out a few words before Adrien gently took over.

“Marinette’s right, Ladybug and Chat Noir don’t really fit into the eros type of love. They’re not even dating.”

Alya almost cut him off, but Adrien kept going.

“Ladybug says that they’re not together, and I trust her, and I think,” Adrien’s voice became just a hair sharper, “that we should all respect Ladybug’s privacy and stop worrying so much about her love life.”

“They’re definitely dating though,” someone mumbled, quiet enough that Marinette wasn’t even sure who had said it.

Alya raised her hand to ask another question, and Adrien called on her.

“Ok, so if Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t dating, can you give us a real example of eros? Is there, maybe, someone that you-” Alya smirked and Marinette’s fight-or-flight instincts kicked into overdrive.

“Actually!,” Marinette said, louder than she intended, “Ladybug and Chat Noir are a really good example of the next kind of love, philia. It’s not romantic, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. The Greeks believed that it was a much stronger form of love than eros.”

Marinette grabbed her flashcards and charged ahead, refusing to slow down or think about the past conversation

The conversation where Adrien had said that he respected and trusted Ladybug in front of the entire class, with a really serious tone of voice and-

Nope, she wasn’t going to think about it. Just focus on the notecards and nothing else.

“Philia is often translated as ‘brotherly love,’ but it means more than that. Siblings do feel phila for each other, like how Alix cares about her older brother.”

“That’s debatable,” Alix muttered, but she was smiling, and Marinette decided to ignore it.

“But philia can be between any people. It’s about loving someone’s mind and wanting to learn more about them. It’s the kind of love that’s shown in sacrifice and dedication and taking on problems as a team. Philia is in any relationship with trust and loyalty and friendship so strong it’s practically family.” She wasn’t sure if she breathed until she finished the section and Adrien started talking again.

Five down and only two to go. This was Adrien’s last part, and then she had one more type of love to explain, and then it would be over. She glanced back over her cards, making sure that she knew what she was going to say, and then tuned in to Adrien’s words.

“Some people think that ludus is lesser because it’s low-stakes, but it was considered one of the most important types of love,” he was saying. “It covered a lot of different types of relationships, but the thing that made them all ludus was that they were all defined by fun. For example, I have fun every time I hang out with my friend Nino, so that would be ludus. Everything from telling inside jokes to playful flirting-”

Marinette was pretty sure that she was hallucinating because if she wasn’t, it would mean that Adrien had just winked at her while talking about flirting, and she couldn’t accept that as actual reality right now if she didn’t want to pass out in front of her entire class. Which she didn’t.

She didn’t hear anything else that Adrien said, but she felt the silence when he stopped. Just one more turn speaking and this whole thing would be over with.

“The final type of love is storge,” Marinette began. “Some people call it a subset of philia, but others say it’s a unique feeling. Storge is sometimes translated as ‘parental love,’ because it’s the type of unconditional and selfless love that parents feel toward their children.”

Was it just Marinette, or had Adrien winced when she said that? She briefly glanced at him again and he looked perfectly fine, so Marinette was probably just imagining things. Or maybe Adrien hated what she had written and was regretting partnering with her and now they’d never talk again and- 

Focus. Only a few more sentences. “Storge represents a lot more than just blood family though. It also describes ‘soulmate’ love, and the type of pure, natural love that forms over time.” She was doing this. She could finish.

“Storge forms between friends who have known each other since childhood, and married couples who have become a regular part of each other’s lives. It’s not as new, or exciting, as many of the other types of love, but it’s incredibly strong once it forms.”

Marinette finished up her last few sentences, wrapping the whole speech up, and then it was finally, blissfully over.

As she headed back to her seat, Adrien caught up to her.

“Great job,” he whispered., “We make amazing partners.”

Marinette’s heart fluttered at the praise. “Thanks,” she said, unable to keep herself from smiling. “You did pretty good, too.”

It wasn’t nearly as strong of a compliment as Marinette had intended to give, especially because she was pretty sure Adrien had written almost all of their speech while Marinette had used up all of her energy trying not to drool over him, but Adrien smiled giddily anyways.

“Thanks! Hey, do you think I could maybe keep the poster you made? I really like it.”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Marinette said. She had forgotten that she had drawn up a poster as a visual aid, she didn’t even remember what she had drawn on it. Still, the fact that Adrien wanted it made her dizzy in a strangely good way.

“Thanks, Marinette!” he said, practically glowing with excitement. “And maybe… we could do this again sometime?”

“Yeah, that would be- I’d be good with-” Deep breath. “I’d be down for that.”

“Awesome, thank you!” Adrien looked so thrilled at the idea of working with her again, Marinette had no idea how to react. She just nodded numbly and sat back down in her usual seat.

It looked like her time as Adrien’s school partner wasn’t over just yet. He still wasn’t going to be nearly as close as her partner partner, Chat Noir, but it was a huge start. She’d survived their project today. Now all she had to do was suffer through countless more, and she’d finally get to know Adrien. She could handle that.

**Author's Note:**

> I finally posted another story! I had so much fun writing this, Adrienette is so cute even when they’re also disasters.
> 
> I’m not an expert on Greek language, I found all of this information from Google and YouTube, so take everything Adrien and Marinette said with a grain of salt.
> 
> A million ‘thank you’s to Moonlightshines(thatkillervibe) for both coming up with this amazing idea and beta reading for me, and also just being super supportive and giving me motivation to write!


End file.
